exam 316 win apps, measure-up test software, confidence flagging.

I guess I'm after a bit of moral support here from people who may
have already taken the 316 Win Apps exam and who used or
know about the Measure Up test software.

I've just finished a 3 month stint using the Que Certification series book
on 316 by Amit Kalami as well as a more general C# language book.

I got the Measure-Up software and took the test in certification adaptive
mode (i.e. forward only answering, i.e. you can't go back and change
your answer to a question. Nor could you get explanations on the questions)
last night and .... god damn it, FAILED.

I took the test twice. The first time I am sure the test software messed up
because on the question review at the end there were at least 10 questions
where it said I didn't give an answer. Which of course is nonsense as I was
taking it dead serious, reading the questions throughly, answering and then
reading the question again to double-check my answer. So no way did I
miss a question.

The second time I got asked 23 questions before the test was stopped
with failed state. I got 14 correct and 9 wrong. From what I've read on this
group it should come as no suprise to read that all the questions I got
wrong were of the "select all that apply" variety. Reviewing the questions
to
see the correct answers and explanations, I was most gutted by questions
where it had like 3 answers you were suppose to tick and I only ticked 2
of them, curse it.

The thing that's really getting me down about the failed test is that in the
exam book at the end of each chapter there were 15 exam type questions.
And throughout the book my usual correct answer rate was
between 70% to 85% so I can't understand why I'm having so much
trouble now.

When I started studying for this exam I had invisioned taking the exam
at the end of September. However when I finished the exam book the
other day I was thinking I might take it earlier than that. But now I've
done the mock test I am really worried. I mean it will be the ultimate
humilation to take the exam and fail since I am a software developer and
several people at work know that I am taking the MCSD exams. On
top of all that I am taking the exams for MCSD certification as part
of a measurable objective to get a larger than inflation pay rise in my
next annual review.

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Guest

Peter,

Don't despair and keep at it. I took and passed 70-316 in July. I too
am working towards my MCSD and would like to complete it by years end.

I'm finding the best way to "study" is to write code. I used the MCSD
self study guides from MS Press and the Transcender practice exams.
Writing code either your own or the examples in the book helped me a
lot. may times the examples in the book were pretty boring - I would
create my own program that exercised the concepts but was interesting
to me.

There is also a little test taking strategy you can follow:
1. Read the 1st part of the question - this will tell you the topic
area of the question.
2. Read the last part of the question, this will tell you exactly what
the question is looking for.
3. Then read the middle question - may times you can get lost in the
middle before even understanding what the question is looking for.
4. After understanding the question, review the answers - looking for
those answers that either don't make sense or have nothing to do with
the question. You will be able to eliminate 50% of the answers this
way and improve your odds at getting the correct answer.

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Don't give up hope. The trial exam will let you know the areas where you
need to concentrate future efforts.
Don't re-learn stuff you already know. Keep using the practice exams to
refine your study.
Once you have memorised the exam - it is time to get a new exam from a
different vendor.
Be careful though - if your answer differs from the answer given by the exam
vendor, make sure you investigate the answer provided - in some cases the
vendor exam answer is incorrect.

I have passed 70-316 and 70-315 and I am now preparing for 70-320 - all
using Kalani's books, the writing style and frequent exercises seem to work
for me.

Keep Smiling

Bob

"Peter Row" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Hi,
>
> I guess I'm after a bit of moral support here from people who may
> have already taken the 316 Win Apps exam and who used or
> know about the Measure Up test software.
>
> I've just finished a 3 month stint using the Que Certification series book
> on 316 by Amit Kalami as well as a more general C# language book.
>
> I got the Measure-Up software and took the test in certification adaptive
> mode (i.e. forward only answering, i.e. you can't go back and change
> your answer to a question. Nor could you get explanations on the
> questions)
> last night and .... god damn it, FAILED.
>
> I took the test twice. The first time I am sure the test software messed
> up
> because on the question review at the end there were at least 10 questions
> where it said I didn't give an answer. Which of course is nonsense as I
> was
> taking it dead serious, reading the questions throughly, answering and
> then
> reading the question again to double-check my answer. So no way did I
> miss a question.
>
> The second time I got asked 23 questions before the test was stopped
> with failed state. I got 14 correct and 9 wrong. From what I've read on
> this
> group it should come as no suprise to read that all the questions I got
> wrong were of the "select all that apply" variety. Reviewing the questions
> to
> see the correct answers and explanations, I was most gutted by questions
> where it had like 3 answers you were suppose to tick and I only ticked 2
> of them, curse it.
>
> The thing that's really getting me down about the failed test is that in
> the
> exam book at the end of each chapter there were 15 exam type questions.
> And throughout the book my usual correct answer rate was
> between 70% to 85% so I can't understand why I'm having so much
> trouble now.
>
> When I started studying for this exam I had invisioned taking the exam
> at the end of September. However when I finished the exam book the
> other day I was thinking I might take it earlier than that. But now I've
> done the mock test I am really worried. I mean it will be the ultimate
> humilation to take the exam and fail since I am a software developer and
> several people at work know that I am taking the MCSD exams. On
> top of all that I am taking the exams for MCSD certification as part
> of a measurable objective to get a larger than inflation pay rise in my
> next annual review.
>
> Worrying Regards,
> Peter
>

I guess the main problem is the amount of stuff covered which I've never had
the need to use before studying with the Kalani books.

Like you say the books style and frequent exercises are great which is why
I got such good scores on the end of chapter exam questions.

The worst questions in the mock tests were things like in VS.NET in the
debugging section
of the Tools --> options dialog which of the following settings can be set,
tick all that apply! What a ridiculous question, there are like 15+
checkboxes
in that section of the dialog all of which are the sort that you set once on
installation of VS or rarely change.

Oh well my next port of call is to go through the book and summarise it.
Hopefully the action of physically writing about stuff I've just read will
help
me remember things like which particular switch of the caspol.exe utility
does
what

Bye,
Peter

"Bob" <> wrote in message
news:urj41r$...
> Peter,
>
> Don't give up hope. The trial exam will let you know the areas where you
> need to concentrate future efforts.
> Don't re-learn stuff you already know. Keep using the practice exams to
> refine your study.
> Once you have memorised the exam - it is time to get a new exam from a
> different vendor.
> Be careful though - if your answer differs from the answer given by the
> exam vendor, make sure you investigate the answer provided - in some cases
> the vendor exam answer is incorrect.
>
> I have passed 70-316 and 70-315 and I am now preparing for 70-320 - all
> using Kalani's books, the writing style and frequent exercises seem to
> work for me.
>
> Keep Smiling
>
> Bob
>
> "Peter Row" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> Hi,
>>
>> I guess I'm after a bit of moral support here from people who may
>> have already taken the 316 Win Apps exam and who used or
>> know about the Measure Up test software.
>>
>> I've just finished a 3 month stint using the Que Certification series
>> book
>> on 316 by Amit Kalami as well as a more general C# language book.
>>
>> I got the Measure-Up software and took the test in certification adaptive
>> mode (i.e. forward only answering, i.e. you can't go back and change
>> your answer to a question. Nor could you get explanations on the
>> questions)
>> last night and .... god damn it, FAILED.
>>
>> I took the test twice. The first time I am sure the test software messed
>> up
>> because on the question review at the end there were at least 10
>> questions
>> where it said I didn't give an answer. Which of course is nonsense as I
>> was
>> taking it dead serious, reading the questions throughly, answering and
>> then
>> reading the question again to double-check my answer. So no way did I
>> miss a question.
>>
>> The second time I got asked 23 questions before the test was stopped
>> with failed state. I got 14 correct and 9 wrong. From what I've read on
>> this
>> group it should come as no suprise to read that all the questions I got
>> wrong were of the "select all that apply" variety. Reviewing the
>> questions to
>> see the correct answers and explanations, I was most gutted by questions
>> where it had like 3 answers you were suppose to tick and I only ticked 2
>> of them, curse it.
>>
>> The thing that's really getting me down about the failed test is that in
>> the
>> exam book at the end of each chapter there were 15 exam type questions.
>> And throughout the book my usual correct answer rate was
>> between 70% to 85% so I can't understand why I'm having so much
>> trouble now.
>>
>> When I started studying for this exam I had invisioned taking the exam
>> at the end of September. However when I finished the exam book the
>> other day I was thinking I might take it earlier than that. But now I've
>> done the mock test I am really worried. I mean it will be the ultimate
>> humilation to take the exam and fail since I am a software developer and
>> several people at work know that I am taking the MCSD exams. On
>> top of all that I am taking the exams for MCSD certification as part
>> of a measurable objective to get a larger than inflation pay rise in my
>> next annual review.
>>
>> Worrying Regards,
>> Peter
>>
>
>

Guest

One thing to also remember is that when you are taking the exam
questions at the end of the chapters, that topic is fresh on your mind.
By the time I get to chapter 8 in the Kalani book I know I will forget
nits from chapter 2.

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